Countdown

11 October, 2013

Our Latest Disney Trip

So, I’ve just recently returned
from my 2nd ever Disney trip, so obviously, I’m something of an
expert at this point. I know all there is to know about all things Disney
World, or as we experts call it, ‘the Parks’.

This time we stayed in a Savannah
view suite at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani Village. It was a very nice
room, especially with as many people as we had traveling with us. It sleeps 9
(we had 6 adults and 2 children), and has 3 full bathrooms, and a nice long
balcony overlooking the aforementioned savannah (more on that in a moment). It
also boasts a full kitchen (complete with plates, pitchers, roasting pans,
utensils, etc…) and a washer and drier in the unit. It is basically a 2 bedroom
apartment.

The property has a nice pool area
with a spray park and hot tub, a fitness facility, an arcade, and other
activities available. I took advantage
of the hot tub one night, but after long days at the parks, when we got back, I
didn’t want to walk over to the pool area (which wasn’t that far, but it wasn’t close..), we just wanted to crash..

View from our balcony

From the balcony or from any of
the several viewing areas, we could see all sorts of African wildlife. Some of
the animals we saw included giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, ostriches, several
types of deer and antelopes and African cows (I don’t remember the actual name
for them) and several types of birds. It was cool to see them. One thing I
would have liked to see was a card or poster in the room that included pictures
of the animals and a little about them. There was no visible fence, but there
was a barrier that is difficult to see unless you are looking for it, so it
looks like they could come right up to your window.

View from the lobby

We really didn’t spend a lot of
daylight hours in the room, so we really didn’t take advantage of the amenities
of the hotel. Luckily, it is a short walk to the Disney Transportation bus stop
and a quick ride to the parks.

In our last 2 trips, I have
ridden on most of the rides in the 4 parks at least once. A couple of the ones
that I have missed (well, not missed, just not ridden) include the rides that
are regular carnival rides with a Disney twist, the sorts of rides that you can
do at your local amusement park (i.e. tea cups, the Dumbo ride, etc…) and the 3
big coasters (Space Mountain, Expedition Everest and the Rocken’ Roller
Coaster). I am not a huge fan of roller coasters, so they aren't high on my
list of things to do, although, I would like to get on them at least once.

A couple of my favorite rides are
the Jungle Cruise, Pirates and Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom, Soarin’ at
EPCOT, Toy Story, the Back Lot tour and Great Movie Ride at Hollywood Studios
and The Safari, Kali River Rapids and Tough to be a Bug at Animal Kingdom
(probably my favorite of the 4 parks). The first time we went to Hollywood
Studios, we got there shortly after opening and went straight to the Toy Story
ride to get a FastPass, by the time we got there, the return times for the
FastPass was already 4.30p. We had dinner reservations for 5, at a resort, so
we didn't get them. An hour or so later, we happened past the ride, and they
had already covered up the FastPass machines, and were not issuing more for the
day. a couple days later we went back to that park, and it was much slower, so
we were able to get on the ride. I now know why the wait is so long. It is a
similar ride to the Buzz Lightyear ride in Magic Kingdom, but it is much
better.

The advantage of going at the
time of year that we went is the crowds are so much smaller. Don’t get me
wrong, it’s not a ghost town, but wait times are rarely more than 20-30 min for
most rides and some rarely have any wait at all. Not sure I would want to go
during the peak times.. especially in July or August when in addition to
everyone being there, it is 1000 degrees.

Lady and the Tramp fountain

I wasn’t in love with most of the
places we ate on this trip. Some were good, others, not so much. The first
night we ate at Tony’s Town Square at Magic Kingdom. It is the Italian
restaurant from Lady and the Tramp. I really enjoyed it. I got the steak, and
it was cooked perfectly. The bread and oil was good and the vanilla gelato was
a great way to finish it. The service wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. She didn’t
add anything to the experience, but she didn’t detract from it. I would eat there again.

The next night, we went to Boma,
an ‘African’ buffet in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was good, but not great.
There wasn’t a huge selection, but what I tried, I mostly liked. Deserts were
pretty plain, cookies and cakes.. typical buffet deserts, nothing really to
write home about. This place probably wouldn’t be high on my list to return.

Next on the dinner schedule was
one of my favorites, Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdom. This is a colonial
themed restaurant that has a fixed menu that is like thanksgiving dinner,
served family style, all you can eat. The meal includes salad and rolls (didn’t
love the house made dressing, but it isn’t my taste), then they bring out the
dinner. Sides of mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed veggies
(mostly zucchini), and sautéed green beans, and then the main courses.. roast
beef, smoked pork and turkey, with stuffing. Everything is delicious. Just when
you can’t eat any more, they bring out desert, a white cake with crasins in it,
topped with vanilla ice cream, with a cranberry sauce to top it off. This is
definitely a place we would go to again.

Dinner at Chef Mickey

Chef Mickey’s in the Contemporary
was the next stop on our dinner menu. It is a character dinner buffet that
features the ‘Fab 5’, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. I don’t really
care about meeting the characters, but it is fun. This was a good buffet. There
was plenty of selection, from sushi, to mac and cheese to carved beef and pork.
If you couldn’t find something to fill yourself up with, you are too picky. It
is in the lobby of the Contemporary hotel, one of the originals at WDW. One of
the cool things about the location of Chef Mickey’s is that you can watch the
monorails go by as they come in and out of the hotel. This is a good place to
eat, and would consider a return trip to eat with the gang.

A Hawaiian themed setting greeted
us for our next dinner at Ohana, in the Polynesian resort. This is another set
menu served family style. They brought out the bread, (which I didn’t love),
then the salad (which I didn’t love) and a couple appetizers, wings and a sort
of chow mien. A little background about
my tastes would be good here.. I am not a fan of sweet sauces for meats. I
don’t like honey ham, I don’t put cranberries on my turkey and I don’t
understand mango chutney. That being said, the food served here wasn’t bad. It
is all cooked on skewers over an open fire in the middle of the restaurant, and
the servers bring around the skewers until you tell them to stop. They have
shrimp, chicken, steak and pork. The pork was very good, the chicken wasn’t
bad, but the steak was too sweet. I tried the shrimp it wasn’t bad, but I am
normally not a fan of crawling seafood. The one saving grace of the Ohana was the
bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce for desert. That was very good. This is not a place
to go for an intimate setting. It is a large open floor plan with servers
coming and going with skewers of freshly cooked meats. It is very busy and not
quiet. I don’t think it will be on the list for a return visit. The food was
quality, just not my taste. (Although, I
would like to stay at the Polynesian on a future stay, and now that they are
building DVC Villas, we will be staying there on a future visit.)

Our final dinner was at the Coral
Reef at EPCOT. It is in the same building as the Nemo ride, but has a separate
entrance. This is one of the smaller
restaurants, but its main feature is that it shares a wall with one of the
large aquariums. You can watch all sorts of sea life (including sharks and rays,
and the occasional SCUBA diver) swim by as you eat. That was pretty cool. The
food is served menu style and is predominately a seafood restaurant, but they
have other options like chicken or steak. I opted for the steak. The steak was
over cooked, I ordered medium-rare, and it came out more medium-well.

On this trip, we took advantage
of the pre-sale of the PhotoPass+. We did the regular PhotoPass last year,
which lets you get as many pictures as you want from the PhotoPass
photographers around the parks, which you can add boarders to and have a CD of
them all for future use. You can also order custom photo themed items such as
mugs, tee-shirts, calendars, etc. The difference between the PhotoPass and the
PhotoPass+, is the + includes pictures from the rides (Splash Mountain, Tower
of Terror, Buzz Lightyear, etc..) as well as the photo packages from other
events, like dinner at Chef Mickey’s and the Pirate experience. Definitely a
cool thing, but not something I would buy every trip, just on the special ones.
Pre-ordering it saves you about $50. As a group, we got around 350 pictures, and
I’ll be playing with the pictures for a bit to add boarders, stickers, etc..
then order the disk and share the pictures with everyone that went on the trip.

One thing Disney does big, is
holidays. Halloween is no exception. On several nights in September and
October, they host “Mickey’s not-so-Scary Halloween Party”. It is a separately ticketed
event, so it is in addition to the park admissions you have already paid for. It
gives you an opportunity to trick-or-treat in the park, in costume. The special
ticket is required, so the crowds are a bit low. They have a special Halloween
parade (which I didn’t see) and a special version of Wishes, their nightly
fireworks display. This was a very good display. You can also take advantage of
more and unique PhotoPlus opportunities. You can have your picture taken next
to the horseless carriage in front of the Haunted Mansion, they then photo-shop
in a ghostly driver. We had more pictures taken, but they have yet to show up
on my page, I have emailed their help desk to research it and have it added,
but no luck yet.

In the fall, EPCOT hosts the Eat
to the Beats Concert series. They bring in bands for a couple days each and
they do a couple shows a night. We happened to see Air Supply. I have to say,
those old guys still put on a pretty good show they played for about 20 min, 5
songs or so. Other bands this year included Starship, Sugar Ray, The Go-Gos and
more.

As part of the basic dining plan
we had selected for food. This includes 1 table service meal, 1 quick service
meal and 1 snack per person, per night of the stay as well as the souvenir refillable
mug. The refillable mug is a cool thing, as long as you don’t have to pay extra
for it. It is good at you’re the resort you are staying at for soft drinks. A couple
of things to make it better would be to let it be good at a couple of places in
the parks, or to make it a little bigger. It is currently about 12oz, if they
made them 20-32oz, it would make for a more usable option. In the 2 places we
have stayed (AKL this year and Saratoga Springs last year), the walk to where
the soda fountains are is a bit of a hike, almost not worth it for such a small
serving of soda.

A couple of the notable things we
enjoyed on the trip include the cinnamon bun from the new Gaston’s Tavern, literally,
the size of a baby’s head. We also got the Dole Whip float, a must have for all
trips to the Magic Kingdom. As part of the new expansion of the Fantasy Land in
Magic Kingdom, a new restaurant opened up. It is modeled after the Beast’s
castle from Beauty and the Beast. It is a hot ticket for dinner, and is completely
booked up months in advance. A couple months ago, I tried getting a dinner for
our trip in January, there was nothing available. They are, however, a quick service
for lunch, and the wait times can be close to 3 hours. We were able to secure a
‘fastpass’ of sorts and were able to jump the line and get in. The food was the
standard type of quick service meals around the parks, but it is in the
ballrooms that serve as dining rooms for the highly sought after table service
dinner. There are 3 different rooms, all right from the movie. One featured the
torn paintings and the rose under glass, one was the main dance hall and the
other is the main entry way of the castle. Since it is so busy, it is tough to
find a table. If you don’t have a MagicBand, they give you a RF pager so they
know where you sit, and they bring you your food right to your table.

Since we have established that I am
an expert in all things Disney World, I wanted to take a few moments to make
suggestions to make a great experience better…

First off, there needs to be huge
Ferris wheel at Magic Kingdom. Something similar to the one in Niagara Falls.
Something that can get high enough to see a good part of the park from the top
of the wheel. I enjoy people watching, and I like seeing things from above. I
think that an aerial view of the park at night, or maybe during the Wishes fireworks
display would be a cool way to see the park.

My next suggestion would be a
couple of additions/tweaks to the rides that have photo-ops. I would add a
photo-op to the Haunted Mansion in the part of the ride where the mirror is,
that shows the computer generated spooks in the doom-buggy with you. Another
suggestion would be to either re-locate the camera, or add an additional camera
to that switches based on the time of day to Test Track. As it is now, it is
right after you come out of the dark building to the fast part of the ride.
When we rode it, it was early morning, and we come out looking straight at the
sun. If they add another camera on the back end that they use in the morning,
and keep this one and use it in the afternoons, it would avoid everyone who
rides the ride in the morning from having to block the sun when the picture is
taken.

So now that I am in Disney cool-down,
I will begin ramping up for our low-key trip in January shortly. We will be
going back to Saratoga for what will probably be our last trip for a year or
so. I look forward to seeing if the 7 Dwarves train ride will be open by then (it
looked pretty close this trip).